1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a folding container used to transport or convey articles.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical conventional folding container has heretofore been arranged such that two pairs of opposing side plates are pivotally supported at their lower and portions by a bottom plate in such a manner that the side plates are able to be raised to their erected position and the end portions of the erected side plates are joined together by means of connecting members to thereby form the constituent elements into a box-like configuration.
The above-described type of conventional container suffers, however, from the following problems. When a multiplicity of containers accommodating articles are stacked up, since each container has no upper frame for supporting the side plates, the load of the upper container is applied directly to the side plates of the lower container. As a result, the side plates of the lower container which are adjacent to each other may be disengaged, so that it is impossible to safely accommodate articles and it is also impossible to efficiently stack up a multiplicity of containers. Further, it is necessary in order to bear the load of the upper container to increase the thickness of the side plates, and in order to obtain high connecting strength, the structure of the connecting member must be complicated, which results in a rise in the production cost of the container itself. In addition, since the thickness of the conventional container when folded is relatively large, the prior art suffers from inferior stacking efficiency.